EarthRef.org Reference Database (ERR)
Development and Maintenance by the EarthRef.org Database Team

Detailed Reference Information
Demars & Schunk 1994
Demars, H.G. and Schunk, R.W. (1994). A multi-ion generalized transport model of the polar wind. Journal of Geophysical Research 99: doi: 10.1029/93JA02356. issn: 0148-0227.

The higher-order generalizations of the equations of standard hydrodynamics, known collectively as generalized transport theories, have been used since the early 1980s to describe the terrestrial polar wind. Inherent in the structure of generalized transport theories is the ability to describe not only interparticle collisions but also certain non-Maxwellian processes, such as heat flow and viscous stress, that are characteristic of any plasma flow that is not collision dominated. Because the polar wind exhibits a transition from collision-dominated to collisionless flow, generalized transport theories possess advantages for polar wind modeling not shared by either collision-dominated models (such as standard hydrodynamics) or collisionless models (such as those based on solving the collisionless Boltzmann equation). In general, previous polar wind models have used generalized transport equations to describe electrons and only one species of ion (H+). If other ion species were included in the models at all, it was in a simplified or semiempirical manner. The model described in this paper is the first polar wind model that uses a generalized transport theory (bi-Maxwellian-based, 16-moment theory) to describe all of the species, both major and minor, in the polar wind system. In the model, electrons and three ion species (H+, He+, O+) are assumed to be major and several ion species are assumed to be minor (NO+, Fe+, O++). For all species, a complete 16-moment transport formulation is used, so that profiles of density, drift velocity, parallel and perpendicular temperatures, and the field-aligned parallel and perpendicular energy flows are obtained. In the results presented here, emphasis is placed on describing those constituents of the polar wind that have received little attention in past studies. In particular, characteristic solutions are presented for supersonic H+ outflow and for both supersonic and subsonic outflows of the major ion He+. Solutions are also presented for various minor ions, both atomic and molecular and both singly and multiply charged. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1994

BACKGROUND DATA FILES

Abstract

Keywords
Ionosphere, Ionosphere-magnetosphere interactions, Ionosphere, Modeling and forecasting, Space Plasma Physics, Numerical simulation studies, Space Plasma Physics, Transport processes
Journal
Journal of Geophysical Research
http://www.agu.org/journals/jb/
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
2000 Florida Avenue N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20009-1277
USA
1-202-462-6900
1-202-328-0566
service@agu.org
Click to clear formClick to return to previous pageClick to submit